“Sugar, I know you’re lookin’ for a way to protect your heart. But you’re lookin’ in the wrong direction. I have to tell you the best way to protect your heart is to trust it to a man who’ll take care of it for you.”
Right. Like such a man existed.
I did not think so.
“Last night and this morning, Luke and I talked a lot,” I told Daisy. “He said a lot of shit to me, all of it I wanted to believe. The problem is, he declared he was through talking this morning and it seems there’s a lot he left out. I can’t trust my heart to a man who’d keep something from me. Especially if it’s about people in his life which will mean, if I stay with him, they’ll be people in my life. That means in the Rock Chick Hot Bunch tribe I’ll be the chump and I don’t want to be the chump. Can you understand that?”
Daisy said softly, “I can understand that.”
“Please then, tell me.”
She sighed. “First off, you have to know these girls are not your usual girls. The Rock Chicks are special and the Hot Bunch know that.”
I kept silent and waited.
“Okay then,” she went on. “Luke threw down with Roxie when he was playin’ her bodyguard. It wasn’t a big deal. He just told her he was interested if it didn’t work out with her and Hank.”
The news hit me like a blow.
Strike one.
“Then he kind of fell for Jules when they were trainin’ and workin’ together. That went a little further because Luke went for it after everyone thought Vance broke up with her and then went out of town so he wasn’t keepin’ his eye on things. Nothin’ came of it, mainly because Jules had already given her heart to Vance, but somethin’ special grew out of that for Jules and Luke. Ava listen to me, it’s somethin’ sweet and special and totally innocent that grew out of it. Vance and Luke are friends and –”
Strike two.
“Any more I should know about?” I asked, interrupting her. “Jet, Indy, anyone?”
“Sugar,” Daisy said softly and she sounded disappointed. “Don’t be like that.”
“So let’s play what if. What if Vance had broken up with Jules? Where would Luke be now?”
“What if is a stupid game. He didn’t break up with her, end of story.”
I knew where Luke would be now, I knew by his relentless, tough guy, macho man pursuit of me. He “fell for Jules” as Daisy put it. If Vance had broken up with her, right now Jules would be in Luke’s loft and he’d be contemplating when he would let his and Jules’s daughter date if she looked like Jules (likely it’d be at age forty if she looked like Jules).
Then it hit me, Jules was pregnant. Hell, if she was with Luke she would be pregnant with his baby.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, almost certain I was going to puke.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Daisy mumbled.
“I have to go,” I said again.
“Come over to my house, we’ll talk,” Daisy replied on a rush. “I’ll get the girls over –”
“Later, Daisy.”
Yeah, much later… as in never. To cut off Luke, I had to cut off the Rock Chicks completely. And I liked the Rock Chicks a lot.
And that was strike three.
“Wait!” I heard Daisy cry before I disconnected.
I tossed my cell into the passenger seat, put my hands on the steering wheel and rested my head on them.
You think she should talk to him now? Hear his side of the story? Listen to him explain about how he tried it on with half the Rock Chicks? How he broke it off with Sandra Whoever-she-was without batting an eye? How he didn’t mention any of this shit during his “straight talk”? Bad Ava taunted Good Ava.
Good Ava didn’t answer. She was too busy quietly crying.
*
I turned off my phone and went to a travel agent. I booked a last minute trip to an all-inclusive in St. Croix, leaving the next morning at oh-dark-thirty.
I went to a card shop, bought a card, paper and a pen and wrote Sissy a long note, explaining everything. Then I went to an Internet Café, e-mailed my clients and told them I had a family emergency that would mean I’d be out of town for two weeks and I looked up the address for Nightingale Investigations on the web. I posted the card to Sissy, care of Nightingale Investigations. Then I went to the mall and bought a bunch of new stuff for my trip, including luggage because mine was at Luke’s.
Then I went home, scanned the street for Luke’s Porsche or any black Ford SUVs and finding none there I parked in my garage. I lugged my bags inside and took them upstairs. I was going to spend the night in a hotel close to the airport.
I dumped my shopping bags on the bed and rolled the suitcase beside it. Then I walked downstairs and arranged my purse and all the paperwork I’d need for my trip, including my tickets, on the dining room table. After that, I went to the kitchen to get a drink, a heavy one. I was going to call a taxi to take me to the hotel so I could get as drunk as I liked.
And I was going to get way drunk.
I was mixing it, my back to the kitchen door, when two arms closed around my waist.
Shit.
I hated it when Luke moved so quietly.
“Let me go,” I whispered and even to my ears my voice sounded broken.
“Not until I teach you a lesson.”